If the United States fails to take advantage of the opportunity to come to
terms with Iran over its nuclear program it will be because of pressure from
Israel. If the unthinkable happens and Washington actually attacks Iran, initiating
another major war that will have far reaching and possibly disastrous consequences,
it will likewise be because of Israel. Folks in the progressive media who find
that fact unpalatable or, quite frankly scary, tend to attribute the White House’s
inability to articulate a more benign and responsible foreign policy that would
serve true national interests to other factors, including imperialism, capitalism,
the military industrial state and misguided humanitarianism, but they are possibly
deliberately missing the point. Imperialism and capitalism do not explain Syria,
nor does the increasingly militarized American national security state, witness
the fact that the Pentagon knows its limitations and is actually reluctant to
get more involved anywhere in the Middle East.

Max Blumenthal, whose recent widely discussed book Goliath:
Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, which is highly critical of the
type of state Israel has become, in an interview
dismisses the Israel Lobby in the United States as a "paper tiger."
This is common among progressives of the Chomsky persuasion, possibly because
they are reluctant to address the disturbing role of American Jewish organizations
in embracing dual loyalty while pushing for new wars. This line of thinking
accepts that it is safe to describe how Israel is following the wrong path while
being careful not to delegitimize it. More important still, it turns the discussion
away from consideration of how prominent Jews have contributed to Israel’s missteps
while severely damaging American interests lest there be some kind of backlash.
This rationalization leads inevitably to the proposition
that only Jews should be able to criticize Israel, put forward recently in a
debate in Britain by former Knesset member Einat Wilf. She described criticism
of the activities of the Israel Lobby by gentiles as ipso facto anti-Semitism.

Progressives and others who dismiss the power of the Israel Lobby are wrong,
as any congressman who is willing to be candid can surely attest. Israel is
the sine qua non for the rush to war and its allies in the US have been
the enablers of a long running conflict that has used 9/11 as an excuse and
which now embraces the entire Muslim world, creating new terrorists every time
a drone strikes. Without the well organized and funded push provided by the
Israel Lobby and its friends in congress and in the media there would be no
drive to disarm Iran, no serious plan to intervene in Syria, and, in all likelihood,
there would have been no invasion of Iraq.

The evidence for the Israeli hand in what passes for US foreign policy is visible
in many places, witness the recent letter
from fifty Senators warning the White House that they would not ratify the United
Nations Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits the sale of arms if they might be
used to commit "genocide, crimes against humanity [or] attacks directed
against civilian objects" because it could "harm" Israel. Israel
even pops up in some places that don’t actually have a foreign policy. New York’s
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, a progressive on everything except Palestine, has
declared
that "Our obligation as New Yorkers is to stand by the State of Israel
and its security." The comment might be explicable in terms of New York
City politics but it is an alleged obligation that defies all logic. A long
time de Blasio associate commented
that the candidate cannot possibly believe what he was saying. Across the river
in New Jersey, the special election to replace "Israel’s Senator"
Frank Lautenberg saw Newark Mayor Corrie Booker, a Baptist, taking on ultra-Orthodox
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach as a spiritual adviser and stressing his affinity
to all things Jewish and Israeli.

Last week, also in New York, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel addressed
the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) centennial gathering. Abe Foxman, the League
national director, was a bitter foe of the Hagel nomination because of its perceived
impact on the relationship with Israel. Now Hagel, who once while Senator said
that "the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here," has been
forced to do his Canossa act, begging Foxman for forgiveness. Hagel told his
audience that "Iran is a state sponsor of terror, responsible for spreading
hatred and extremism throughout the region" while Israel is taking "important
steps towards peace and the two state solution." Chuck, whose tenure in
the Obama cabinet has evidently taught him how to lie, introduced another liar
former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta, who enthused
that there is "no friend, no better ally in the world than Israel"
before receiving ADL’s William and Naomi Gorowitz Institute service award

At the end of October President Obama also did his share of the heavy lifting,
demonstrating yet again that Jewish organizations are not regarded quite like
other ethnic or religious groups. He hosted a private briefing
with five leaders of major Jewish organizations – Foxman, Howard Kohr of AIPAC,
Malcolm Hoenlein and Robert Sugarman of the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations, and David Harris of the American Jewish Committee.
Fundraiser Alan Solow was also present. Obama sought to explain his Iran policy
and was also playing defense over a comment by Secretary of State John Kerry
that might be construed as having implied that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu
had been using "fear tactics" to scuttle talks with Iran, though Netanyahu
was not named and the comments were generic. Foxman, who nevertheless perceived
a threat, called the Kerry comment "inappropriate," meaning that it
is unacceptable for the American Secretary of State to criticize Israel in any
way.

Obama promised the Jewish leaders that he would neither lift sanctions on
Iran nor unlock frozen funds, which suggests that he will have no cards to play
when negotiations resume in Geneva today. In return the four organizations agreed
to defer any campaigning or lobbying of congress for tougher sanctions on Iran
for sixty days. But they also indicated that if the Senate moves ahead on planned
tougher sanctions on its own initiative, they would support such a move. If
it sounds like Obama lost all around while Israel’s friends are setting out
markers for an acceptable US foreign policy in the Middle East, it should.

Israel’s frequently high minded explanations for its behavior with its neighbors
in which it always portrays itself as the victim do not pass the smell test
but have nevertheless successfully contributed to restraining Washington’s ability
to act independently. Syrian peace talks are set to begin soon in Geneva, with
some possibility that they might actually be serious this time around as Damascus
has demonstrated a measure of good faith by complying with an agreement to destroy
its chemical weapons production facilities. Israel will do its best to derail
the talks.

In foreign and defense policies, nothing happens in a vacuum and every action
produces an equal and opposite reaction. Syria has chemical weapons in the first
place because they are a deterrent to attack by Israel, which has its own secret
arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, as well as overwhelming
military superiority in every other category. So Israel supports the destruction
of the chemical weapons but it also plays at being the spoiler on peace talks
because it would like Syria’s civil war to go
on indefinitely, eliminating that country as a front line enemy. Last week
it muddied the waters by bombing
a Syrian air base near Latakia claiming that it was destroying missiles bound
for Hezbollah. The missiles were reported to be Russian made SA-125s, which
are used for air defense, not for attacking targets on the ground. So Tel Aviv
has decided that it is willing to commit acts of war to deny to its neighbors
the means to defend themselves against air attack, which, of course, would come
from Israel. In terms of actual American interests, the Obama Administration
should have condemned the Israeli action as "not helpful" for peace
talks but, beyond confirming that the bombing had taken place, not a peep came
out of the White House.

Israel is also trying to derail any peace talks with Iran. It is by no means
clear whether the Obama administration actually wants to cut a deal with the
Mullahs, but the Israel Lobby is using its tame congressmen and media pundits
to undercut the president’s ability to do anything to reward Iranian cooperation.
A bloc of influential Senators, both Republicans and Democrats, all closely
tied to Israeli interests, has declared
that it will take on the White House if it attempts to lift sanctions on Iran.
Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who has been coordinating his strategy with
AIPAC, leads the group together with Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois.
Menendez and Kirk are pressing for new legislation that will tighten and extend
existing sanctions on oil sales to cripple the Iranian economy. It is a move
that will effectively end any chance for an agreement as Tehran’s negotiators
must be able to go back to the Iranian people and demonstrate that they have
obtained something tangible in exchange for concessions on their nuclear program.
An opportunity to obtain a real breakthrough in a troubled part of the world
will have been wasted.

All of the above is intended to demonstrate that what passes for United States
national interests have been manipulated and distorted, so much so that they
have little or nothing to do with reality. Where is the "you" and
"me" in what the White House is doing? We Americans have an interest
in peace and prosperity but instead the president sits down with five heads
of organizations who only want war on behalf of a foreign land, with more American
soldiers likely dying for nothing as a result as we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And there is domestic blowback that comes part and parcel with the fractured
foreign policy: homeland security in the United States is a response to the
international terrorism that has plagued our country in large part because of
Washington’s uncritical support of Israel. Our national security state not surprisingly
incorporates
many Israeli practices as America becomes more and more like Israel, not vice
versa. And Washington pays for making us "safe" on a credit card,
as the economy sinks and burns.

Washington’s view of the Middle East and much of the world is unfortunately
a reflection of how Israel sees it. A leading funder of the Israel Lobby, Sheldon
Adelson, has even publicly called
for unilaterally using American nuclear weapons on Iran, with no one in
the White House or in either political party rebuking such insanity. The audience
at Yeshiva University in New York City applauded the suggestion. That Israel
has been able to dominate the debate over US foreign policy is a tribute to
the effectiveness and power of its Lobby, manifest in the exclusive meetings
and outreach deemed necessary to "explain things" since America took
faltering steps to speak with Iran. Those who doubt the Lobby’s power because
they are obsessed with other, seemingly more transcendental malignancies in
the American political and economic system should think again. A small, focused
and well-funded group that has only one goal in mind, i.e. to support a foreign
government no matter what policies it pursues, can be a viper in one’s bosom.
In his Farewell Address George Washington warned
about "cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men…enabled to subvert the Power
of the People" and then went on to advise that "…permanent, inveterate
antipathies against particular Nations and passionate attachments for others
should be excluded; and that in place of them just and amicable feelings towards
all should be cultivated. The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual
hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave." He also provided
a description of a state affairs that fits the asymmetrical relationship of
Israel and the US to a "T", stating "So, likewise, a passionate
attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for
the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest,
in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities
of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and Wars
of the latter without adequate inducement or justification: It leads also to
concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which… injure(s)
the Nation making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with what ought to
have been retained…" Washington’s insights and his warning should be required
reading for everyone in congress as well as in the White House.

Giraldi is flat out wrong to describe progressive attitudes toward The Lobby as being somehow soft or dismissive. Is it that he is unfamiliar with such sites as Mondoweiss or Counterpunch? It would seem so.

Duglarri

There is grounds to disagree, if only on the basis of the fact that Counterpunch and Mondoweiss are not representative of progressives. Like Chomsky, they are voices in the wilderness, and are hardly likely to be invited to the kind of dinner parties at which what passes for progressive policy is actually made.

If those voices were actually representative of any kind of influence we'd certainly see a shift in policy in a pretty quick hurry, because they agree with Phil on just about everything. If only.

ErnstThalmann

Clearly, a distinction needs to be drawn between Democrats and liberals on the one hand and Progressives on the other, one which is attested to all the time by writers at Counterpunch. You are right, such people would hardly be welcome on MSNBC or at Daily Kos conventions.

Johnny in Wi.

Phil is 100% right. President Step and Fetch It, has always been in the pocket of the Israeli Lobby from his first days in Illinois. Panetta and Hagel are 2 other sell outs. I think all of them would like to make a deal with Iran. they just don't have the stones to get it done. After all the Israeli Lobby provides over 60% of the money of the Democrats. Then there is Obama's 200 million dollar retirement buyout and the mansion on the beach in Hawaii. If I am wrong and Barry makes peace, I will apologize to the liberals here. But as far as I am concerned, The intellectual muscle against war comes from the libertarian and paleo conservative right. The Lobby stays in power by using bribes, blackmail, and intimidation against our political class. it has worked for a long time. They use our own laundered foreign aid money to do it.

cmichaelg

My sense is that Phil was not referring to a few alternative media outlets, but to the larger progressive community. Mondoweiss and Counterpunch – and a few other alternative media web sites and publications – are generally progressive on Israel, but many other progressive alternative media organizations are not as progressive with regard to reporting on the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Many others fall into the "progressive on everything but Israel" category.

There is no broadcast media organization in the USA that dares to hold Israel accountable in the manner than Phil does. Even DemocracyNow! knows its limits in that regard. Washington insiders note that DemocracyNow! often touches on Palestine and Israel but that the coverage "never goes anywhere." Moreover, Pacifica's coordinator of affiliate radio stations, Ursula Ruedenberg, is a Zionist media operative if ever I've seen one. Ruedenberg has been managing Iowa's newest community radio station, KHOI-fm in Ames, for almost two years. Initially, Ruedenberg was slow to bring DemocracyNow! to the new station's listeners, but she wasted no time in attempting to turn KHOI's coverage of Iowa and national politics over to a local Zionist flak, Steffen Schmidt, who several years ago smeared the Ames Public Library board of directors and the Ames Interfaith Council as anti-Semitic because those organizations dared to sponsor a film festival titled Palestine Unabridged: Films about Life within the Conflict. Moreover, Ruedenberg cozied up to Schmidt and other local Israel-firsters despite the fact that KHOI's major donor is an Ames Public Library administrator who had been actively involved in the library's sponsorship of the film festival and was harassed relentlessly by local Zionist operatives for her trouble. Here in Iowa, Ruedenberg has persistently and selectively rebuffed local progressive activists who have sought involvement in KHOI programming, keeping local coverage of politics to a bare minimum while advertising the community-supported station as "Free Speech Radio." KHOI's chief engineer explained to this reporter that Ruedenberg was merely "avoiding controversy." (Then he informed me that I didn't have his permission to quote him. He was shocked to learn that I didn't need his permission, given that he was aware of my work as a reporter and responded freely to my request for information.) Pacifica has long been the progressive broadcast media icon in the USA. With a flak like Rudenberg working as Pacifica's coordinator of affiliate radio stations, one can only wonder just what Lew Hill would think of his Pacifica Foundation now.

I have to agree with Phil's analysis. Many, far too many, who like to think if themselves as progressives are loath to criticize Israel's crimes and excesses or confront its powerful US lobby. And thus, at the least they lend tacit support to those who want the USA to fight Israel's wars, again and again.

Orville H. Larson

There's "never been heard a discouraging word" in our Fawning Corporate Media about the Zionist entity's crimes and outrages.

dahoit

Yeah,perusing the NYTs website,there is no report on Arafat's polonium poisoning.The utter depravity of these alleged most civilized people is hypocrisy made large,and an expose on their hollow souls.Anyone who backs such evil as nuking Iran reveals their total rejection of their God,as they obviously don't fear his retribution.

Phil Giraldi

Ernst – apologies for any confusion but cmichaelg has it right. I was primarily speaking of media and talking head progressives, who have accepted some level of criticism of Israel without really holding either Israel or its supporters accountable. I am certainly familiar with Mondoweiss and Counterpunch but even there would note how Mondoweiss has evolved. Phil Weiss once called me an anti-Semite – I doubt if he would do that today.

bozhidar balkas

i do not think that ashkenazim, an admixture of peoples [voelker] from europe and asia, descend from the ten vanished tribes or the judeans. most or all judeans fled or were expelled to arab lands, anatolia, and greece.
i can't see what's shemitic about paul newman, kirk douglass, laureen bacall, et al.
many ashkenazim look more polish or german than a lot of poles or germans.
in any case, mizrahim, arabs, and sephardim descend, according to torah, from Shem, noah's eldest son.

A. G. Phillbin

Who gives a rat's ass about that? What has it got to do with the topic?

ErnstThalmann

Phil – thanks for the clarification. My guess is that as right as you are about Isreal, you find yourself a pretty lonely fellow. You have no more support from "conservative" media and talking head figures than you do from their supposedly "progressive" counterparts. And considering "libertatian" Rand Paul's wuss in the direction of Israel not long ago, my guess is that you'd find yourself considerably more comfortable cuddling up to Weiss and the writers at Counterpunch than in trying to find a friend on the right apart from those few to be found at antiwar.com.

Objectivist

Actually, Israeli advisers warned the US not to attack Iraq because it would create a vacuum for Iran. The idea that a small country like Israel controls US foreign policy is ludicrous. It definitely has influence, but not nearly as much as Saudi Arabia does. Criticism of Israel becomes anti-Jewish when one is singling Israel out.

RudyM

Many progressives and leftists in the U.S. are dismissive of the importance of the Israel Lobby, Chomsky being a prime example. And many on the left seem to follow the lead of Chomsky without much thought. (9/11 is another area where people on the left constantly cite Chomsky, or Cockburn for that matter.)

Orville H. Larson

Israel–that criminal, racist Zionist entity–is a colossal detriment to the U.S. In return for our groveling servility, our unstinting economic, military, and diplomatic support, what does the U.S. get? Not a friggin'
thing, except Israeli crimes and outrages against us!

Future historians will be hard-pressed to explain this. . . .

Augustbrhm

America`s ass is grass and the Zionist and its lobby is eating it all up it will become as Europe when the Zionist was finished they jumped over to America.

richard vajs

Not everybody is tempted by the corruption; not all are cowed – Pope Francis near the end of October refused an audience to the swine, Netanyahu after granting one to the leader of Hamas. I am sure that in Tel Aviv, it has been decided that the Pope will "have to pay for this outrage".
I am awaiting two disclosures that will further prove to all but the willfully blind that Israel is a criminal enterprise – proof that Israel poisoned Arafat and proof from Snowden or Assange that Israel had their dirty hands in the events of 9-11.

Johnny in Wi.

The Pope didn't have time for Netanyahu when he wanted an audience. He is however, meeting with Vlad Putin. Remember when Syria got started, the Pope wrote a letter to Putin and asked him to get involved. He also called for worldwide day of prayer and fasting. The Bishops of the USA also called for prayer and fasting and asked Congress to not go along with war. Many Catholics took up the time to call and write there Congressman, me included. In most Catholic churches there were sermons against the war as well. We did our part.

die Wahrheit zählt

Excellent analysis, but nothing will change, as Israel and friends in the U.S. have managed to distort the storyline into a war against "terror", whereas the actual terror comes from Israel and the U.S. The Europeans, particularly the Germans, are just as bad as servile American politicians, and the defence of Israeli interests is indeed a 'reason of state' for the German government, and especially for the serial and professional opportunist Merkel.

Jaime

At least the German case can be understood given the fact that they lost the war and surely one of the conditions for the Marshall Plan was some kind of permanent kowtow to Israel's "need". What is the US justification?

die Wahrheit zählt

Jaime,

In my view the German position is hypocritical and a great advantage for Israeli aggression, in that the Germans are supine when it comes to Israeli crimes and are afraid to speak out, they try to whitewash the past by forgiving Israel everything. The "anti-semitic" card is all powerful. Just as the Israel lobby in the U.S. has been outstandingly successful in shaping the narrative to suit Israel's needs – Israel a bulwark against "terror", America's foremost "ally", American political "representatives" putting Israels interests above those of the people they "represent" etc. – so in Germany it has come to a similar situation, albeit by a different route. Instead of such concepts as defending the oppressed, promoting justice etc., the German education system and it's attempts to whitewash the past have brought it's body politic and it's own MSM to a position where Israel is regarded as a 'holy cow' and all it's crimes forgiven.

mulegino

Not to mention Germany is a defeated and occupied nation- after almost 70 years!
The difference between Germany and Palestine is that the latter endures a brutal, violent occupation and all the Palestinians know it and are nobly insolent.
Germany, on the other hand, endures an occupation of its collective psyche which goes far deeper, and relies on a collective, masochistic guilt complex imposed by psychological warfare and cultural indoctrination.

die Wahrheit zählt

Mulegino,

Yes, I fully agree with your description, which summarizes it exactly as it is. Germany is also a very important support base for U.S. warmaking, both politically and logistically. The stance of German politicians in regard to U.S. and Israeli war crimes, and in regard to the current U.S. and British spying activities on the most senior German politicians, can be described as nothing less than cowardly, and a complete dereliction of their duty, much like many U.S. politicians in regard to Israel.

mulegino

It is gratifying to me to see that there are Germans like yourself who see the situation for what it is.
The time has now arrived wherein the victor's justice and propaganda have begun to wear off, like a mind numbing anesthetic, and the field begins to be taken by real history, not hackneyed cliches masquerading as factual arguments.

Michael Hamrin

Philip,
I am quite sure that you are not an anti-Semite, and you are certainly spot-on in acknowledging the destructive influence of the Zionist lobby upon U.S. decision-making. Regarding Dr. Chomsky, I distinctly remember Chomsky's 1967 denunciation of Israel's war-making role in Zionist expansionism. And Chomsky does have a certain "style" which is annoying, but he is still an indefatigable critic of the current world order, and should be respected. The only problem with your analysis is to down-play the role of U.S. home-grown malignancy. Powerful interests are at work in U.S. warmongering which do not involve Zionist Israel. We should not diminish the role of these vested interests.

dahoit

Well,yeah,there are MIC and oil interests that try to influence policy,but they don't own the bully pulpit that spews BS 24-7-365 to the American sheeple, as the Zionists do,almost exclusively.

ErnstThalmann

"Powerful interests are at work in U.S. warmongering which do not involve Zionist Israel. We should not diminish the role of these vested interests."

Very true. Imperialist and munitions interests may have objectives in common in the Middle East with Zionist Israel but they would not seem to be of an entirely common impulse as some believe.

bozhidar balkas

as far as i know, chomsky [don't know about other 'progressives'] favors a two-state 'solution', but is against the ROR to children of the 1947-1948 expellees/refugees.
ROR is our second-dearest panhuman right, but chomsky would allow the return of only people who are by now 65 years old and older.
i also think that a two-state 'solution' [means "so-called"] would be among worst 'solutions' for palestinians.

PEACE EVER AFTER

I agree ,only a one state solution is now possible or plausible. It will mean an apartheid of sorts for many years but eventually equal rights will have to be granted as the world comes to realize the monster that was created in 1948. Enormous pressure will be exerted primarily from China and India. It will be the end of the jewish state.

A. G. Phillbin

"Right of return" is irredentist garbage, whether practiced by Zionists or Palestinian nationalists, or anyone else.

bozhidar balkas

so, you know your garbage!!

A. G. Phillbin

Yes, I know garbage when I see it, and when I smell it. Post-generational "right of return," whether promoted by Zionists (their justification for founding Israel in the first place), or by Palestinian nationalists (their political response to the Zionists "right of return"), is an absurdity, on it's face. Jews and Palestinians are not the only ethnicities to have been driven out of their places of origin. Ask any Native American. Ask a Kosovo Serb. Ask literally dozens of tribes and nationalities across the planet, and you will find that many are no longer in the places where their people originated, often due to warfare. Irridentism is a recipe for global chaos, and deserves no endorsement. At best, the Zionist "right of return" for diaspora Jews should be dropped, in exchange for the Palestinians dropping their claimed "right of return" for anyone other than those still living who were actually driven out in the "Nakba," or monetary compensation in lieu of that. Anything else is a justification for forced removal and mass murder.

bozhidar balkas

i deem the ROR our second-dearest panhuman right. expelled serbs from kosovo do have the right to return.
of course, i agree, a lot of nations deny this right. i do not know whether kosovan govt or EU has given up on this right for serbs.
i'm honoring that right for all people who were expelled from or left a habitat for any reason whatever.
sorry to hear you make that right conditional on this or that pretext excuse, conclusions, etc. i don't!!
by giving up on ROR we are endagering a lot of indigenous peoples in s. america, afrika …
peace!

A. G. Phillbin

I do not make that so called "right" conditional — I oppose it almost entirely, for anyone. The only exception is for those individuals who were driven out, who have this "right of return" for themselves, not for all subsequent generations or ethnic cousins, or for the right to compensation for their loss. I don't know why you consider "ROR" "our second-dearest panhuman right," and I hesitate to ask what you consider the first "panhuman right." So, to which Native American tribe are you donating your house? If you live anywhere in the US, the "ROR" applies to them. Unless, of course, you set a generational limit. And it isn't giving up on "ROR" that endangers anyone — it is allowing people to be physically removed in the first place. On the other hand, unlimited "ROR" allows any people who were displaced to forcibly return, no matter how many generations ago it occurred. THAT endangers millions, given the history of the world. "ROR" was the original excuse for Zionism.

bozhidar balkas

ROR for mizrahim and sephardim–the actual shemites– cannot be granted 2k y after being expelled or fled for dear life from judea 70AD.

A. G. Phillbin

So how many generations to achieve the statute of limitations on "ROR?"

bozhidar balkas

most of n. american indigenes were slaughtered; some indeed were expelled.
if one is to believe historians 10 mn of them died off from european diseases or have been slaughtered.
those that were forcibly transferred are long time dead, say, 200yrs.
so, only their descendants wld have the ROR.
according to chomsky, he'd allow ROR only to people over 65 years of age.
how now could an 80 year old palestinian leave his children/grandchildren and settle back in her/his old habitat to die alone in days, weeks, months, a few years? while his children might be even banned from visiting them?
in any case, palestinians still keep keys to their houses; they want to return. i support them.

A. G. Phillbin

They have keys to houses that were torn down long ago. Why not monetary compensation in lieu of "ROR?" And why should the descendants of people 200 years dead have "ROR?" How is that any different than people claiming "ROR" on account of relatives 1900 years dead? You contradict yourself.

omop

Weather by omission or commission Americans have over the years acquired as one writer put a closeness to the Old Testament akin to the Jewish one of being "the" chosen one to "lord it" over the planet. Thus in today's world Israel and the USA are not only considered a pair but as far as US "foreign policies" decisions are concerned Israeli supporters are prime decision makers.

Thus any criticism or deviation in policy gets opposed in two ways as suggested by a political writer.
1). The first is by intimidating and slandering critics claiming they are anti-Semitic and/or terrorist
sympathizers.

2). The second is by attacking and eroding our democratic rights thus destroying the tools by which
we are able to expose its abuses and war crimes.

Bruce Richardson

Phil Giraldi is a superb writer. His knowledge of the workings of the international political scenario is second to none. I would like to see him write a book, where for reference purposes his wonderful analysis and commentary would be under one cover and therefore easier to find.

james

Ignore what Phil said to your peril, if this parasite is not dealt with soon, there will be no more blood left in the host. They have drained the US almost dry. Look at the US now, a shell of its original self in less than 40 years with absolutely nothing to show for it. It is intensely hated by most of the world population including their closest allies, hell, it is hated by even some of its citizens.
Wake up America.

PokeTheTruth

This article by Mr. Giraldi speaks the truth about what is essentially the infiltration of unregistered foreign agents for Israel at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. The Zionists also control the banking industry, the news/entertainment media and have great influence with Evangelical Christian communities across America. It has become a political coup of our sovereignty.

What can those of us who refuse to relinquish our natural freedoms and liberty do to combat this usurpation of our independence? Do we react violently, risk prison and even death? Perhaps these events will ultimately spiral into a cascade of bloody rebellion.

I think however a peaceful but meaningful way should first be explored. We need to ask ourselves; how are these miscreants able to continue their machinations against the people? We flatly give them permission to abuse us, that’s how.

We have to stop allowing this to happen to ourselves by rejecting the sham of federal elections. That simply means voting NOTA (None of the Above) for all congressional offices and the presidency. Don't give the kakistocracy your approval. End believing the lies of the political party dogma. Don’t trust them, don’t listen to their deception, don’t take their bribes of other people’s money.

The elitists need your credibility to exist; don’t give it to them. Use their own system of fraud and deceit against them. Lift the dark shroud of tyranny and expose their evil. Tell your family, friends and colleagues; write in NOTA on the ballot!

I've read several articles recently which claim something along the line of "Israel, our most reliable ally." A quote from Leon Panetta above makes a similar claim. Reliable for what, exactly? Sucking down more than half the foreign aid budget, and constantly whining for more? Wholesale spying, and theft of nuclear secrets and materials? Interfering in US foreign policy? For the life of me I can't think of one instance when Israel has been anything but an impediment at best, and not infrequently worse than our "enemies" like Iran. A recent comment in the Jerusalem Post credited Israel with providing telecommunications and drone technology as Israel's contribution to this verbal "alliance." That would be the telecommunications Israel uses to spy on us, and the drone technology killing innocents across the globe. Some contribution. Can anyone provide one thing positive that Israel has ever done for the US? The US needs to renounce this never formal alliance, cancel ALL economic aid, and treat Israel – and dual Israeli-Americans – as the foreign agents they are.

ToivoS

I suspect Phil has misinterpreted Max Blumenthal's use of the term "paper tiger" to describe the Israel lobby. This term was first used by Mao to describe the US early in the Vietnam war. The Chinese most certainly were aware of the power of the US but believed that it had serious limits and could be defeated.

I think something similar is true about the power of the Israel lobby. It would wither quickly if people lost its fear of its influence. We saw Congress reject the lobby over Syria once the overwhelming majority of American people made their view clear that they opposed war against Syria.

cmichaelg

Most people fail to comprehend the breadth and depth of the Lobby's influence. It's heavy-handed influence over our elected representatives in Congress and in the White House through shrewd use of campaign contributions is well known, but there is much, much more to it that that. Well over a decade ago, a long-time member of the US House who served in the USMC in Korea where he earned the Navy Cross, a Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts observed to me that it is almost impossible to overstate the influence of the Israel lobby and its media machine. Subsequent events have proved his assessment accurate again and again. The Israeli hasbara campaign in the USA is bigger, more sophisticated, and far more effective in influencing attitudes and shaping public opinion than the vast majority of American imagine. Google "critical reaction to 24" then click on the Wikipedia entry, scroll down to the sub-headings "torture" and "allegations of bias," peruse that material, and then have a look at the list of awards the long-running prime-time program won or was nominated for by the Hollywood establishment. That should give you a sense of the breadth and depth of Israel's hasbara media operations in the USA.

Caesar_Salad

Criticism of Israel as a political entity is on no way "anti-Semitic" any more than criticizing the US as being "anti-Cacasian" or "anti-Hispanic" or what have you. If one criticizes Israel for it's government's actions, it's no different than criticism of the US or Russian or Iranian governments of their actions. If you are criticizing Israel *as a Jewish state for its religion* then that's a completely different argument altogether. I'm Jewish and I criticize Israel all the time for it's stupid political moves in the Middle East- and I'm American and I criticize Washington for it's stupid political moves around the world- does that make me "anti" anything? It sure does- it labels me as being rabidly anti-stupid, and it doesn't have anything to do with one's religion or lack thereof.

redwood

Nutty Yahoo & Ehud Barack Obama say Syria should give up its chemical weapons and Iran should give up its nuclear program. The US & Israel don't practice what they preach. Israel is the most powerful nation in the Middle East and the USA has the most WMD's in the world. Neither Russia nor China will bomb either nation.

Chas H

The Syrian war should be ended. Russia has been trying.They are negotiating. We know the Sunni backed rebels are getting new weapons especially the man portable antiair missiles. The US is in Jordan. The regime still has heavy artillery. Why doesn't the Israelis know it was their veterans from Europe than made them win their war of independence. How do battle hardened Sunnis on their door step help them? Partition Syria I say to stop the fighting. Maybe I am foolish. I know Israel is really strong but why spread man potable missiles? Are border controls so solid and Israels intelligence so infallible to guarantee success?

JJJihad

Mr Giraldi is pitch perfect in skewering the large majority of progressives who willfully ignore American Zionism's power. He is peerless in exposing the symptoms of their role and their treasonous anti-Americanism. But even he continues to talk about "the Lobby," as if this were still just a matter of influence or intimidation. American Zionism controls — constitutes– US government, a consequence of decades of massive corruption of Congress and the executive bureaucracies. It determines its actions. It decides where the money goes. It identifies its "interests"–fraudulently as "American" interests. If it is not ubiquitous, it is only because it does not bother to involve itself in functions it has no use for. It is the culture of DC and US media, ingrained, in the DNA. There is only one political party–American Zionism. However instrumental it once in fostering the corruption, the "Lobby" now serves merely as enforcement and sentry. I suspect Giraldi and the very few others like him sidestep the distinction to avoid a "conspiracy theorist" label–"Oh, he just rambles about ZOG." But "ZOG" it is.

Chomsky's an anarchist. CounterPunch very much represents the American Left, and has active comtempt (as Cockburn did) for "progressives." In recent years CP has featured a number of libertarian writers. As the Democratic Party has drifted toward state corporatism, it seems that "liberal" simply means someone who votes Democrat (not exactly 'liberal' by old standards), "progressive" tends to mean someone who votes Democrat apologetically (and stupidly, always expecting new behavior from old patterns), and the tiny % of Americans who are the Left are the Left.

aufderjagd

Geez im just happy to be able to comment without signing into some social media cess pool like facebook or twitter